Leader of the Dahomey Amazons, she led an army of 6,000 women against the Egba fortress of Abeokuta. Because the Amazons were armed with spears, bows and swords while the Egba had European cannons only about 1,200 survived the extended battle.

TweetSourced: Nkiru Nzegwu. “Iyoba Idia: The Hidden Oba of Benin” JENDA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies: Issue 9, 2006. The task of piecing together women’s history has been difficult. So acute is the dearth of information, particularly documentary evidence, that some of the outstanding women in history have been mistaken for men...

Queen Idia was the mother of Esigie, the Oba of Benin who ruled from 1504 to 1550. She played a very significant role in the rise and reign of her son. She was a strong warrior who fought relentlessly before and during her son's reign as the Oba (king) of the Edo people.

TweetImage Reference forbesamazon Source Frederick E. Forbes, Dahomey and the Dahomans: being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey, and residence in his capital, in . . . 1849 and 1850 (London, 1851), vol. 1, facing p. 23 Comments Caption, “Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh. An Amazon in the Dahoman army.” Image shows her in war...

For West Africa, one aspect remains consistent: the African people have a very different approach to power among women than the traditional western conception implies. When people in the West consider the concept of equality between the sexes, they think of men and women sharing equal roles in society.

The kingdom of Dahomey, now called Republique du Benin is located in Western Africa, bordered by Togo on the west and Nigeria on the east. Dahomey has a unique feature in its history that reads like something out of Greek mythology - they had Africa's most well known corps of female warriors.